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How does a channel manager help increase hotel revenue?

Posted on June 12, 2018 at 6:47 am

Often times you think of taking your hotel business to the next level that’ll boost your hotel revenue. You ask your business guru for tips to know how to reap the best out of your hotel investment. Isn’t it?

This even includes rate updates, stop sell, yield management, competitive pricing and more. These terms hover your thought processes when you think of earning higher from OTAs using a hotel channel manager. Right?

Regardless the type of property you own, you need a consistent working capital or revenue to keep your property afloat. Not only afloat, but a gradual progress to take your hotel business to the next level and beat the competition.

Check out the below tips and see if you can set in your hotel channel manager for a revenue hike:

#1: Invariably set hotel tariff to maximize your revenue

You have to be aware of your competitors’ pricing strategies. So, if you aren’t tuned in and sell your hotel room at a low price, then your hotel revenue won’t grow as projected.
Similarly, inflated rates will repel the bookers to book your rooms, causing you a revenue loss.
To avoid loss, you have to employ a Rate Shopper tool that allows you to monitor competitors’ rates on several OTAs thereby allowing you to set effective rates, derive higher bookings and a higher hotel revenue.

#2: Go for a wider online distribution = new bookings

The more OTAs you connect with, the better visibility and reach your hotel gets and the higher bookings come in for you. Additionally, a Global Distribution System [GDS] as a channel will put your hotel in front of a much wider audience.
Likewise, 360-degree photos for each room, an apt description, pricing, promotional offers, and contact details help in increasing the rankings and attract new bookings at your hotel.

#3: Packages and promotions to attract more guests

You have a good reputation in the market and list of loyal guests too [But this isn’t enough]. In a highly competitive market, offering packages and promotions strengthen loyalty and attract more guests. Using a hotel channel manager, you can run 2 or more promotions parallelly and compare which one is giving you extra income or high profit. Once decided you can opt for the apt promotion and run it extensively.
Even which package is giving you higher income can be understood easily from the Innalytics graph. You can perceive the guest attitude of choosing the promotions from a complete data analysis tool – Innalytics. Not only it provides reports on several business aspects, but also allows you to derive on surefire decisions to grow your business.

#4: Eliminate overbooking and underbooking

Often you may have faced the inconvenience of overbookings. An embarrassing situation for both, you and your guest. This also can drop your hotel rankings by a negative review probably posted facing the awkward situation. Utilizing pooled inventory model i.e. available in channel manager is a good idea that eliminates overbooking.
Another aspect is balancing between ‘sold out’ and underbookings. Every other day, if your hotel is sold-out, the OTA rankings of your hotel decreases. So to keep the rankings higher, your hotel needs to be available on OTAs all-the-time.

#5: Your hotel rankings rise via rate parity

Keeping a standard, identical rate policy for your hotel rooms on all OTAs is a welcome move encouraged by the hotel industry. Complying with industry standards, your hotel rankings increase. When your hotel rates on all the OTAs are the same, a sense of credibility, trust is established in minds of your guest getting you positive reviews too. The more positive reviews you get the higher rankings it shows on OTAs. This credibility and rankings help to draw more room reservations.

#6: Employ yield management for a consistent revenue

As per the market conditions, the hotel channel manager lets you choose the best available retail rate for selling the right room at the right price. Simply, employing a yield management will work in optimizing the hotel room rates automatically.
If the occupancy is high, the rates are inflated and similarly when the occupancy is low the room rates are deflated. This allows a consistent revenue generation, maintaining supply and demand balance respectively.

#7: Lock your room rates to avoid any loss

Often it happens that when you aren’t sure about implementing the change in pricing you forget to implement the same or miss on updating it. At this very point, when you change the rates that fall out of the minimum and maximum tariff range, your system pops-up and informs you that ‘this tariff cannot be implemented’.
Thus, the Rate Threshold keeps your hotel revenue consistent and saves you from revenue loss that would be impending, if the rates weren’t locked.

#8: Get advance online payments for guest convenience

Your guest has booked a room and yet to arrive at your hotel. For confirmation of booking, you can send a payment link from the system itself that redirects to the online payment gateway. The guest just needs to enter credit card details and within few clicks, the payment is done. This facilitates guest with early check-in and eliminates hassles at the time of arrival.

#9: Reduce no-shows and cancellations

A booker browses on your hotel website searching a room for a single-night stay. At the very moment, he feels the room facilities are excellent with a reasonable tariff. So, he goes to confirm the booking on booking engine. The system asks to enter credit card details.
In this case, if the valid credit card details are not entered then at the time of verification the system sends the booker a warning mail and to you to enter the valid credit card details or the bookings will be cancelled. Thus, credit card capture and verification reduce no-shows and cancellations that eliminates a revenue loss.

The above points are a logical-boost to employ a channel manager for effective hotel distribution, inventory updates, and a lot more. Whichever, tips you follow, you’ll definitely save time and money. Besides, you get an idea as to how you can earn higher than what you did earn.